Review: Hard to believe it now, but back in 1981 when Deadly Blessing was released director Wes Craven wasn’t nearly the household name he would become. Coming off of directing the intense The Last House on the Left and the bizarro The Hills Have Eyes (both of which would get lesser remakes decades later), Craven dialed down his extreme style for this moody chiller. Though not well received by audiences or critics, it was interesting to view this one for the first time. While Craven was never someone that was consistent from film to film, he had good eye and that’s what keeps Deadly Blessing afloat for much of its run time.

Jim Schmdit (Douglas Barr) grew up as a member of the Hittites (think Amish) but left the religious community to marry. Inheriting a family farm, he’s returned with his bride Martha (Maren Jensen) much to the judgmental dismay of his father Isaiah (Ernest Borgnine) the elder in their order. When Jim dies in a suspicious accident his family that disowned him feels the land should revert to them and not to Martha. Martha intends to stay but when her two friends arrive for support and strange accidents start to happen, it’s up to her to find out if Isaiah is behind it all or if there aren’t more malevolent supernatural forces at work.

I’ve mentioned before how much I frequented the horror section of my local video store as a child. I can still remember seeing the Deadly Blessing VHS staring back at me but, alas, it’s never one that made it home. I actually think had I seen this as a teen I’d have been disappointed – back then I was all about the gore and high stylized horror flicks and Deadly Blessing isn’t overzealous with blood and guts. It’s more character driven than you might expect and while there are some tepid performances (Jensen is a snooze…a pretty snooze…but a snooze all the same) it’s a mostly well acted affair.

Playing Martha’s best friends are a young Sharon Stone (Lovelace) and Susan Buckner (Patty Simcox in the movie version of Grease) and they are often the highlights of the film. Stone seems to go off the deep end pretty quickly (you would too if a giant tarantula fell in your mouth!) and never quite comes back from the brink which results in feeling like her performance is way too overbaked. That stands in stark contrast to Buckner’s nuanced take on the character – she’s a nice breath of fresh air and I wonder how much more effective the movie would have been if she and Jensen had switched characters.

Craven stages some sequences with a nice amount of tension, like the scene where Jensen is relaxing in a bathtub and someone releases a huge snake into it with her. Though it’s almost a shot-for-shot preview of what he’d do three years later in A Nightmare On Elm Street (the snake head pops up between Jensen’s legs like Freddy’s glove does with Heather Langenkamp) it’s highly effective. I definitely subconsciously lifted my legs off the floor and tucked them in under me. There’s also a creepy scene with a couple attacked in a car and some nice point of view shots where we become the person stalking Jensen and company.

The conclusion of the film was a genuine surprise and who (or what) is behind it all was kept secret right until the final reveal. Do you know how hard that is? Though it must be said that the good will is nearly ruined by a dumb nonsensical coda the studio insisted on, for the most part Deadly Blessing is a worthwhile look into Craven’s earliest work. Special mention for the spooky score by the late James Horner (The Magnificent Seven), a future Oscar winner. Another special mention for myself for never realizing until now that Stone is featured on the poster and not Jensen…sheesh…how did I miss that?